ZooChat Big Year 2014

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Evening wander down Padley Gorge followed by a drive back along the edge of Blacka Moor.

262. Common Redstart - Phoenicurus phoenicurus

32. Red Deer - Cervus elaphus


The latter was the reason for the drive back past Blacka as the wild population up there is pretty showy. Also got a very nice, close-up view of a dipper in Padley Gorge.
 
Maguari's recent Redstart success reminded me that this was still a gap on my year list so a visit to a reliable site, Clunton Coppice in south Shropshire, was in order this weekend ...

187. Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
188. Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Went to Heybridge Basin today and managed to get a new species for the year among the masses of mallards, black-headed gulls, common terns and greylag geese.

92. Black-tailed godwit

Only four birds and two mammals off equalising my result last year and seeing as I am going to Norfolk later this summer I expect to be able to surpass this quite easily.
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Had a pretty good night exploring the garden last night; as well as hearing the hedgehog out and about also managed to see:

Birds:
93. Tawny owl

Mammals:
19. Common noctule bat
 
I was just reading that John Weigel from Gosford reptile park, who holds the Australian big year record of 745 from 2012, is currently on 703 birds for 2014 and wants to better his 2012 record.
 
boof said:
I was just reading that John Weigel from Gosford reptile park, who holds the Australian big year record of 745 from 2012, is currently on 703 birds for 2014 and wants to better his 2012 record.
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he was also trying to get to 700 birds in the first six months of the year, which he did. That's a pretty good achievement!!
 
boof said:
I was just reading that John Weigel from Gosford reptile park, who holds the Australian big year record of 745 from 2012, is currently on 703 birds for 2014 and wants to better his 2012 record.
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Where did you read that? I could only find his blog about his 2013 big year.
 
Ituri said:
First an addition from my coastal trip, seems I left off one.

214 Brandt's Cormorant

That shuffles everything down a number...

So a couple more from the nearby mountains:

Birds

239 Veery
240 Red-naped Sapsucker
241 Pileated Woodpecker
242 Townsend's Warbler
243 Common Poorwill

Mammals

26 Columbian Ground Squirrel

Then a bigger update from a short trip to the Twin Cities:

Birds

244 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
245 Red-bellied Woodpecker
246 Great Crested Flycatcher
247 Northern Cardinal
248 Indigo Bunting
249 Common Grackle
250 Chimney Swift
251 Eastern Wood-Pewee
252 Ovenbird
253 Scarlet Tanager
254 American Redstart
255 Blue-winged Warbler
256 Clay-colored Sparrow

Mammals

27 Eastern Gray Squirrel
28 Eastern Chipmunk
29 Eastern Cottontail

Amphibians

2 American Toad
3 Gray Tree Frog

Also, not counting arthropods or anything, but I can't fail to mention that I saw my first ever fireflies. Completely breathtaking!
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257 Black-throated Sparrow
258 Forster's Tern
259 Lincoln's Sparrow
260 Gray Jay
261
262 Red-necked Grebe
263 Williamson's Sapsucker
264 Lewis's Woodpecker
 
Ituri said:
257 Black-throated Sparrow
258 Forster's Tern
259 Lincoln's Sparrow
260 Gray Jay
261
262 Red-necked Grebe
263 Williamson's Sapsucker
264 Lewis's Woodpecker
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was number 261 something invisible?
 
Chlidonias said:
was number 261 something invisible?
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After careful consideration I've decided that there is no harm in divulging the identity of number 261, but I'll post the full story behind it in a few weeks.

261 Northern Hawk Owl
 
Mammals update:
1. Moose
2. Caribou
3. Dall Sheep
4. Mountain Goat
5. Musk Ox
6. Northern Red-backed Vole
7. Collard Lemming
8. American Red Squirrel
9. Arctic Ground Squirrel
10. Red Fox
11. Arctic Fox
12. Brown Bear
13. Small Asian Moongoose
14. Polynesian Rat
15. Ringed Seal
16. Sea Otter
17. Harbor Seal
18. Dall's Porpoise
19. Humpback Whale
20. Fin Whale
21. Stellar Sea Lion
22. North American Porcupine
23. Canada Lynx (My first ever spotting of a cat species in the wild, seen crossing the road between Seward and Moose Pass...a good long look. I've found tracks of Lynx here in Alaska and Bobcat and Puma in Texas, but until now never a glimpse.)
 
A good day in Royal National Park today. The first two and the deer on the Forest Island walk, the third at Wattamolla and the remaining two at Bonnievale. Lifers in bold.

Birds
201. Topknot Pigeon
202. Large-billed Scrubwren
203. Rockwarbler
204. Buff-banded Rail
205. Nankeen Night Heron

(Last year's total for Australia was 204).

Mammals
15. Rusa Deer

:p

Hix
 
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A little blurry-eyed this morning after an all-night (barring 90min of light sleep in the back of the car) bat survey with the county bat group. Got in not long before 6am and managed about another three hours' sleep before my body clock kicked me out of bed. Very good night though - as well as Common Pips and Daubenton's again, we saw another, unidentified Myotis and two new species for me (the first of which we saw several hundred of during emergence and the dawn swarm):

33. Soprano Pipistrelle - Pipistrellus pygmaeus
34. Brown Long-eared Bat - Plecotus auritus


Deliberately vague on bat details in order to maintain as much of a mystery location as possible for the amazing roadside bird sighting I had on the drive back, scrapping with a Carrion Crow. These are a rare fish indeed around here these days. (To the point that there's an RSPB hotline, who I have notified!)

263. Hen Harrier - Circus cyaneus

:)
 
zooboy28 said:
@Pleistohorse, Are Polynesian Rats easy to see in Hawaii?
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I'm not sure, Zooboy. This was my third trip to Oahu and the only mammal I'd seen on past visits were Moongooses, each sighting an animal crossing the Kamehameha Hwy on the North Shore. Won't count feral cats (though at least one of those was a fairly rangy looking one about as far from a house as you can get on the island). This last visit, near the last day, I was sitting at a table under a tree in Fort DeRussey Park. It was about 2200 and a branch above me moved. I caught sight of a small mammal near the end of a branch and my first thought was squirrel or small, aboreal possum...a closer look and I said Rat. Checked the guidebook and habitat and appearence said Polynesian Rat too me. Usually I won't specify small rodents, but felt confident to specifically identify it.
 
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